Broadband communication is the most sought after commodity in today's communication market. Bundling of services has become the ultimate desire of all users in today's market. Over the past many years, new technologies have emerged in the field of communication, where the invention of the Internet is one of the most prominent advancement in modern history. Because of its popularity, the Internet has become congested, operating at capacity, and is in desperate need of additional bandwidth to accommodate even more users wanting to take advantage of the new advances in the field of communication.
Fiber-optic cable systems have been hailed as the ultimate broadband solution, but cost prohibitive constraints and other factors that limit application of fiber optic cable systems for data transport to all homes have curbed the spread of this technology. Operators have been looking for a “last mile” solution (e.g., a communication technology for subscribers that are more or less a mile from the end of a wired network) to bring their communication products directly to the consumers. Fiber optic cable systems turned out to be only a partial answer to a complex problem.
Satellite systems have been used unsuccessfully to provide connectivity anywhere and anytime. Lack of sufficient bandwidth has been the main reason that prevented the satellite entrepreneur's success in the past.
What is needed for delivery of bundled services is a communication technology having a backbone with relatively large bandwidth compared with conventional systems. Bundled services would include telecommunication traffic (fixed and mobile), Internet traffic, distant personal information computing, and interactive multimedia services (e.g., television, video on demand, and pay-per-view). Bundled services would be delivered to all users no matter where they were located.
It has been clear to the industry for a long time that the existing backbone is not adequate for expected future demand. A new and better backbone is desired over patching the old one. So far, attempts to find a broadband delivery technology for bundled services have not been entirely successful. Conventional systems have provided bundled services for a couple of modalities, but bandwidth is not sufficient for growth.
Without platforms, networks, and methods of the present invention, the current demand for increased bandwidth will not be economically met. Bandwidth is a colloquial expression for the data rate into or out of subscriber equipment. A typical video presentation may require a continuous stream of 5 Megabits per second (Mbps). If a network can support 10 Mbps, then two users desiring a video presentation could share the network but would consume the entire bandwidth of the network. If a third user began consuming data at a rate of 3 Mbps, there could be a noticeable degradation of the quality of service provided by the network (e.g., original users see skips in video presentations).